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BL Premium reports that while warning of big financial losses in respect of the 2019 financial year, ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa) said on Thursday that it had cut more than 1,000 jobs as part of steps to reduce costs.
It described the 2019 financial year as the most difficult since the global financial crisis for the global steel industry. In July 2019, the company had indicated that as many as 2,000 jobs were on the line as it grappled with lower selling prices, falling demand and rising input costs. In an update, ArcelorMittal SA said on Thursday that the reduction of the workforce was almost complete. As part of the cost-cutting measures, the company said it would also change the prices and scope of sub-contractor services by the end of the first quarter of 2020. In 2019, the company had also announced a review of its assets that culminated in a decision to wind down the operations at the Saldanha plant in the Western Cape. It now reported that it would be “largely” completed by the end of the first quarter of 2020. The second phase of the asset review commenced in November 2019, focusing on the Newcastle Works and certain of the long steel products rolling facilities in Pretoria and Vereeniging. Amsa noted that it did not anticipate the closure of long steel product plants “in the foreseeable future” and primary steel-making operations would continue in Newcastle, with the plant primarily serving the domestic and Africa overland markets.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Siseko Njobeni at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
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